The Groom News (Groom, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1954 Page: 6 of 10
ten pages : ill. ; page 19 x 13 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1954
THE GROOM NEWS, GROOM, CARSON COUNTY, TEXAS
PAGE EIGHT
WINNING STRUGGLE FOR LIFE
ity she wrote last year.
I
I the bank.
A.
529562
C
=
i
5
3
Lora Simpkins
■
W
f
/F
ristmas Greetings
A
e-
@
@
.1
First Christmas
33
//)
2222222222533
7
May Santa fulfill
The STATE NATIONAL BANK
A
May the true
meaning of
Christmas
CHRISTMAS GIVEN NEW
MEANING BY GALLANT
TEXAS GIRL TB VICTIM
Good luck and good health
in the year ahead.
Rainbow Cafe
Mrs. J. E. Byes and
Ruby Lee Jones
1
I
))
A /95S
City Tailor Shop
Buck nd Sue Whatley
and Doug
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
GROOM, TEXAS
/<
be yours. ^^7
"S"I
And somewhere in the hospital j was shot when’the shotgun of a
Christmas program, with the in-, young companion went off acci-
imitable Lora touch, there will j dentally as they walked through
appear her flippant parody of a. woods.
J
POOL’S SKELLY SERVICE STATION
JIMMY POOL, Manager
A
i
all your hopes.
NG5
familiar Yuletide classic. It be-! A 13-year-old Navasota lad was drowned in Highlands reservoir
gins, “ ’Twas the night before shot when 'a fellow hunter stum-, while trying to swim out and re-
Christmas in Dorm No. 10 . . ' bled causing his shotgun to be । trieve a duck he had shot from
A
9A8
? 728
3332233339
633333333338833
8338353
s
38s
8as
l
in bed, and although breathing! A 10-year-old Moran boy was
with difficulty, was helping direct shot when his own .22 rifle was
wcy . . fka
) . of the •
7
73
/ 8
333333: 8888
Ba
i / S/V
I A/
plans for a pageant of The Nativ- discharged.
A 14-year-old Cleveland youth
(I
0
Howard D. Dodgen, executive
secretary of the Texas Game and
Fish Commission, said five of the
11 gun fatalities in Texas this
hunting season involved teen-age
youths.
A 17-year-old Lufkin boy died
when a gun held by another lad
accidentally was discharged.
A Fort Worth boy, 14, was fatal-
ly wounded by his older brother’s
gun. ,
A nine-year-old Gatesville boy
was killed by an adult brother-in-
law.
A 17-year-old farm boy living
near Bastrop was fatally wounded
when 'a shotgun fell from a car
and was discharged.
An Alta Loma woman was fatal-
ly shot when her 14-year-old son’s
shotgun was discharged as he was
cleaning it following a hunting
trip.
Five other teen-agers were
wounded.
A J
3
i
■■
1
120228 §
ca I
6
ill
:38888888888
i§ §
42
c
P,
Vh
A 14-year-old San Benito boy
was shot when another young-
hunter fired his .22 rifle accident-
ally.
A 16-year-old Huntington boy
was shot when he was mistaken
for a deer by an adult hunter.
A 17-year-old Houston boy
" For Our Community
, ' \K!a Wick
We Wish
88888 » :
8.4
§3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333232333333
5:
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333232
« 33 : ■
x8831*72333
l
r
I
deadly bacillus has made her a1
sort of symbol for all of them.
With Lora it isn’t borrowed
courage either. Tuberculosis has
taken seven years out of her life.
It hit when she was 21 and she
has cheerfully refused to observe
a birthday since then.
There have been times in those
seven years that she appeared
well on the road to recovery and
a normal life only to find the
tough little bug gaining the up-
perhand again.
She’s had the works in medical
treatment. Bed rest, surgery,
miracle drugs, pneumotherapy. To S
some of these measures she re- m
sponded with marked improve- j
ment . . . for a time.
And every time her hopes of
health were dashed, she shrugged
off the disappointment, refused to
admit defeat.
Perhaps it is that innate forti-
tude ... or maybe it is just the
way she screens it with a rapier
wit. . .
Whatever it is, and without any
effort of her own, Lora became
the emblem for this writer’s per- \
sonal quarrel with tuberculosis
and what it does to Texans.
Late last year she was making
such strides toward recovery she
was allowed limited activity, part
of which was editing the hospital
paper.
Then came bad news. Lora
wasn’t doing so well. She was
back on strict bed rest. Eventually
the only alternative appeared...
more surgery.
She’d been there before. She
knew the odds. But she sent a
cheerful reassurance along to the
Texas TB Association where her
bubbling good humog has sparked
a wealth of anecdotes.
On her way to the operating
room, they say, she wagered her
doctor a steak dinner that she
would be well enough for medical
discharge in six months. It was
by no means that simple. m
mo -
0 i J’
,y" ' _ plme
A• the Blessings
-
o AW _
88888888888888888833333338
32333333:8
4
y e
J 153833X 7398833333833333*882
8 i Ee/ 202
9 ' • I1E N 2
8/2 » 28
8.865559 0g
9 ) a//"
gwa /MASN3
7a
*80
-
55eM§9AN \
7
$33388838
H
2:38888 888
A
AUSTIN, Dec. 18 — Christmas,
somehow, has taken on a new
meaning this year. A gallant girl
in a hospital bed 250 miles away
is giving it a special glow.
Out in McKnight Sanatorium,
near San Angelo, a very short
time ago Lora Simpkins’ life hung
on the outcome of a hazardous
lung operation. The odds were
fairly heavy that she wouldn’t see
this Christmas dawn.
But she will . . . and that is
what makes Christmas, 1954, dif-
ferent.
Lora is just one of thousands of
Texans who have TB, but to this
erstwhile occupant of a newsdesk
her audacious defiance of the
Eemnnp m
- jag
Aa
S / 4g"7te
y ' ) /•2
/
y
.1
For two days and a night the
issue was in doubt.
Then came the heart-warming
news, “Lora made it. She is go-
ing to live.”
That was mid November but
somehow the words had the song
of Christmas bells.
Last week Lora was sitting up
Christmas? It’s wonderful! । discharged.
------oOo------ --------
TEEN AGERS TOP LIST "e
OF HUNTING FATALITIES
' NOEI
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Wade, Max & Wade, Helen. The Groom News (Groom, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1954, newspaper, December 23, 1954; Groom, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1487312/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Carson County Library.